I'm Ready
by Laoise Potter
Summary: One-shot. What happened before the warehouse sting takes a turn for the Rizzles.


**A/N: **A Rizzles-ified version of what happened before the sting. Starts off with dialogue from "What Doesn't Kill You", and takes a turn in the Rizzles direction where it should. One-shot. If you want more, read some post-2x15 fics (I even have one in progress, hint hint wink wink) or watch the show! Happy reading!

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"You should get in there."

Jane hated those five words the instant they came out of Korsak's mouth. She had barely finished wiring Maura, barely had any time to give her advice. Now, she was just going to send her best friend into the warehouse, unarmed, and wait for somebody to come finish her off? No, she wasn't okay with that. Not in the least. A huge part of her wished they had never agreed to this arrangement in the first place. But Jane had no time to dwell as Maura gave an excited hop and spun to face her, flipping her hair back definitively. "Okay, let's go."

"Listen to me, alright?" She had to get this in before they started. There was too much on the line. Her hands landed on Maura's forearms, gripping the ME lightly. "This is serious. Somebody's trying to kill you to stop you from investigating a murder."

Maura gave a little shake of her head. "You don't have to tell me that. I was _there _when he nearly drove over my mother."

"You know we're only letting you do this because we're hoping that whoever this guy is, he is desperate enough to follow you into that warehouse and try again, alright? But we're gonna be there this time."

A smile crept onto Maura's face. She raised her hands to Jane's forearms, staring confidently into the detective's eyes. "I'm ready."

Jane bit her lip. She held her best friend's gaze for a moment—_those confident, beautiful hazel eyes_—and made a snap decision. "Okay." Reaching out with one hand, ignoring the surprised protests of Korsak and Frankie, Jane slid the warehouse wall shut. "Okay." She faced her friend again in the semi-darkness and took a deep breath. "Maura…"

Her voice caught, and said woman concernedly cocked her head to one side. "Jane…"

"You"—the detective plowed on without a single hesitation—"_do_ know how risky this is, right? And…" Jane's voice cracked again and she cleared her throat, dodging her gaze from the ground back to Maura's eyes. "And these things don't always go as planned…so—"

"So let's be confident and make _sure_ everything goes right!" Maura jumped in, another small grin gracing her lips. "Isn't a positive attitude supposed to help that along?"

"I…I guess, but"—_God, why isn't she listening?_—"Maura—"

"Although, there is no scientific method of research that can prove beyond doubt that positivity increase your chances of success in any endeavor…"

"Maura…"

"Still, I think it's something like the Placebo effect, that—"

"Oh, for heaven's sake."

Without warning, Jane brought her hands up to cup Maura's cheeks and stopped her from speaking by kissed her full on the mouth. Both women froze, each of them stunned by the detective's boldness, and neither moved for several seconds. Before Maura could even think about reacting, Jane pulled away and stared deep into her eyes, tears stinging her lacrimal glands. "Just…be careful, okay? Don't do anything that I wouldn't do."

Maura blinked. The corners of Jane's mouth twitched as she attempted to smile, and ran her thumb briefly over the shorter woman's cheekbone before she stepped back and started to open the side of the warehouse again. The moment had come and gone. As much as she wanted it to last, they had a job to finish.

"Jane…"

Maura's hand on her arm caused her to pause, and turn around. Blinking against the sunlight, the two women simply looked at each other for a long moment. Then, without any further hesitation, Maura placed her hands on Jane's shoulders and kissed her firmly, trying to both assure and reassure the detective in one simple gesture.

"_JANE!_"

Korsak's cry caused them to break apart. Jane sighed heavily. "Back to Earth, now, I guess," she husked, flexing her fingers against Maura's hips.

Laughing lightly, the shorter woman rested her forehead against Jane's. "Don't look so worried," she breathed with a smile. "We're in this together." Maura squeezed Jane's shoulders and pressed their lips together one more time. "What could go wrong?"


End file.
